Blimey, it’s not so long ago that I saw Everton supporters saying that he was better than JWP. He has plenty of Premier League experience so let’s hope he fits Ralph’s way of playing. Hope he does something about that hair though.
Could be a KWP situation where he was highly thought of and turned crap and the supporters turned on him. Maybe a fresh start might be what he needs. Or he might just be crap. I can’t recall ever seeing him play particularly well, but always willing to give players a chance
Trying to be balanced towards this transfer. Pros: - Technically sound. - Young. (Was nominated for golden boy a few years back). - Experienced in the Barclays. - Despite what you may think, his fashion sense is top tier. - Most likely a loan, so not stuck with him if he’s not great. Cons: - Was pretty ****e last season. JWP had him on toast at Goodison all game. I guess you can counter this and say no Everton players were particularly great. - I don’t see him as a direct Romeu replacement/cover, he can be combative but he’s not really a 6. - Everton fans think he’s ****e and has been for a while. We have signed players that are “****e” from a fans perspective before and they’ve turned out good (Lovren, Bertrand), whilst also seeing players we’ve written off (JWP, Mane) blossom into great players. - Doesn’t seem particularly quick or mobile. - Crook and Talksport talk a lot of waffle so may not even be true.
My take on it is that if this was simply a loan to bulk up the squad and give us more depth - prior to us buying a quality CM to replace Hojbjerg - then it would actually be a really smart move. However, I am worried this would be our only incoming in central midfield - which would be a disaster imo. I guess we will have to wait a week or so to find that out.
Lest we forget JWP had his detractors a couple of years ago at his age. Davies might just be motivated to prove something with a fresh club in the same way that KWP has and he might be a good fit for Ralph and somebody has obviously identified him as HCDAJFU. I seem to remember another Scouser CM that signed for us by the name of Case and he turned out pretty good.
We also signed a Scottish CM from Everton in 1967 called Jimmy Gabriel who was pretty good. Hard as nails.
He played in my very first match at The Dell I think against Man Utd (I went in supporting Utd because of my Dad and left in love with The Saints!) I think he even scored against them the next season.
Ted played him as a striker occasionally, to cover for injuries. Scored 27 goals in 224 appearances for Saints, which isn’t bad for a midfielder.
Davies certainly wouldn't be a signing to get you off your seat. But I would be content with it. However, I still don't think that JWP, Romeu and Davies would be enough (I didn't think three was enough last year, and that's when PEH was one of them - we really were incredibly fortunate that JWP was able to play every minute of our PL season; can't put all our money on that happening again). So if I do get my wish of two more CMs (I'm not holding my breath though), would Davies be a main new one or the lesser new one?..
Yeah this sums it up pretty well. Would be an okay but not exciting signing alongside others, but in our reality that he'd likely be our only one, then it's just another bang average midfielder that isn't going to make the difference that's needed. We've known that Pierre was leaving for at least 6 months, so if it does happen and it's our only midfielder then it shows either how poor our planning was or how ****ed we our financially.
Here's an opinion on Davies that is worth listening to given the type of player he was and status in the game.. https://tbrfootball.com/terrific-go...-of-everton-man-reportedly-set-for-loan-exit/
Doesn't really say a lot though, an ex player bigging up a youth product is hardly unusual or a fair assessment. Would trust the supporters over that.
Yeah. There's probably loads of times Le Tiss has said on Sky that player x from our academy has 'all the attributes' to make it at the top before doing nothing. I'll trust the fans who watch him week in week out then an ex player.
A few years ago I thought Davies looked a really good prospect. He may have gone off the boil last year but there is some talent in there which if we can extract will be a bargain.
Here’s the thread on him from the Everton forum https://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/threads/tom-davies.111034/page-8
As always i'll reserve judgement until i've seen him in a Saints shirt, could be that he is dog turd but on the other hand he might be another Bertie.